17 February 2010 10:12 AM

Thank Guinness! Entertainment lies a little closer to home

While the national side toiled to such a woeful win in the eternal city (and those 80 minutes really did feel like forever), there was far more entertainment on these shores. Gloucester went on the rampage, Leeds got stuck in the mud, Saracens took the party to Wembley and Bath finally banked a try-scoring bonus point. I haven't added it up yet but it's probably safe to assume there was less kicking across all six Premiership games on the weekend than there was from Wilko's boot in Rome. If that's not true, it should be.

Geech effect? Try Redpath of righteousness

Knight of the realm though he is, the credit Sir Ian McGeechan has received for revitalising Gloucester's season is more scandalous than chivalrous. No doubt Geech will have a fantastic effect on life at the Shed when he does finally arrive to take on his new advisory role at the club (even if the title does make him sound like the players' new agony aunt), but as yet he has done zilch. Nada. And the modest McGeechan would be the first to say as much. Or maybe the second. In the face of a myriad of Geech-related questions, Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath was as composed as you like. 'He hasn't even watched a training session yet. Nor was he at the shed today,' Redpath assured the press after watching his side annihilate an inexperienced Harlequins side 46-6. Redpath and his squad have turned Gloucester's season around. Nobody else. Not even Sir Lion himself.

No more playing the victim

Almost as if preparing for the inevitable, John Kingston offered an excuse for a Quins defeat before a ball had been kicked. Before sending a young side out to face a geed-up Gloucester, the Quins coach rambled on about losing star players to the England camp and the club being 'victims of their own success'. It jarred before kick-off and it certainly jarred 80 minutes and a 40-point deficit later. Kingston set his side up for a fall with such defeatism. Of course, Quins are never going to be as strong a side without the England trio of Nick Easter, Danny Care and Ugo Monye (not forgetting Chris Robshaw, who was also out in Rome as England back-up), but Kingston's attitude served as a prologue to what followed. It was hardly a stirring battle cry.

Stop breaking the law

Some laws are more important than others. Throwing a pass backwards is sacrosanct. It is the law that defines our game. If we allow the ball to be thrown forward in rugby, the game becomes a poor man's imitation of American football. Without the padding. Referees have long turned a blind eye to certain laws — feeding at the scrum anyone? — but forward passes are creeping into the game like never before. Often it is the officials on the sidelines who are better positioned to make the call, and in such circumstances they must intervene. No matter how short the pass, no matter how seemingly miniscule its forward momentum, referees must call the play back. Few things in rugby provoke a greater sense of frustration and injustice than a missed forward pass. Just ask the French.

Ground control a major problem

Spare a thought for groundsmen at this time of year. They spend all week preparing a pitch for the weekend while the weather fluctuates from freezing to pouring and then 30 enormous men rip it to pieces. And then they get in trouble. Leicester coach Richard Cockerill was not impressed by the Leeds pitch on the weekend and he isn't one to bite his tongue. 'The pitch was as bad as I've seen in a decade,' he said. 'You could put your boot in four, five or even six foot in some areas, the mud was that deep. If you want to play top end sport you have to have surfaces better than that.' To be fair to Cockerill he was perfectly entitled to say what he said — the pitch was, after all, orange — and he even graciously added that it was 'nobody's fault'. Still, it can't be fun being a groundsman at this time of year, stuck in the firing line and in the mud. Here's hoping the grass gets greener soon.

England needed Sinbad the brave

James Simpson-Daniel scored a hat-trick at the Shed on the weekend while England were preparing to kick the leather off the ball in Rome. Sinbad's catalogue of injuries has been well documented (it is positively Argos), but given the nature of England's performance, and the spark the 27-year-old is still capable of producing, one cannot help but mull over what might have been. The dummy scissors he conjured up against the All Blacks in 2002 still reigns as one of the greatest debut moments in Test rugby. How England could have done with a decade of Sinbad's twists and turns.

Sacking it in for lent

It's great to see the Premiership's finest supporting Childline and the kick-bullying-into-touch campaign by giving up something for lent. Apparently Steve Borthwick's giving up chocolate, while Paul Sackey's vice is desserts. The Wasps wing is off to France next year, although no confirmation as to exactly where just yet, but he spent Tuesday morning cooking up some pancakes with a few team-mates in the West End. Captions on a postcard please.

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